Category: Professional Development

Books, Professional Development

Book 378: Managing Up (The 20-Minute Manager Series) – Harvard Business Review

Geoff W

I wanted to look into the idea of “managing up” because every job I’ve held my direct manager has gone out for maternity or medical leave and this has thrown me into a different management structure than what I was used to. And then when my manager has returned it was yet another adjustment.

My immediate response to this book: They were not lying when they said 20 minutes! I actually read this book twice before I sat down to write my response. The good part is, that where I felt this book kept me wanting, they recommend reading the HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across, also by the Harvard Business Review and I already have a copy from the library!

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ARC, Books, Professional Development

Book 377: What Color Is Your Parachute? 2016 – Richard Bolles

Geoff W

When I first received a request from the publisher, Ten Speed Press, to look at this book I was a bit hesitant. The primary reasons was that I’m not looking for a new job.

After checking out the press release and reading a bit more about the book’s history I realized this would be an excellent resource regardless of employment status and I’m so glad I read it. I did receive a copy from the publisher and I received no compensation in return for an honest response.

Overall, I found this book very informative. I think it’s useful regardless of employment status, especially if you want to learn more about yourself professionally. I wish I could write about everything I found useful in the book, but I’m only going to touch on a few specific topics. This being said, the tips in the book work.

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Professional Development

Building Relationships

Geoff W

This is the second follow-up piece in my series of why my blog and online presence will enhance future career opportunities. For the introduction click here and for part one about technology click here.

2015 08-27 90k Is A Lot!I mentioned this in passing last week, but one of the most incredible things about blogging and social media is the ability to build relationships with people. Not only those you see on a day-to-day basis, but also those you’ve never met before.

As I write this post, I’ve recently surpassed 90,000 views on my blog. This may seem small in the scheme of things on the internet, but it was still exciting to me. Every time I post something it is pushed out to my social media network and blog subscribers, that’s over 1,800 contacts. And yet these are just statistics. They are not relationships.

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Personal Project, Professional Development

Teaching Myself Technology

Geoff W

This is the first of three follow-up pieces to my piece last week about my online presence, concerning hard skills. Posts on people and networking skills and establishing individuality are still forthcoming. Each post will build on the previous posts ultimately highlighting my unique skill set.

Today’s post, if you couldn’t tell by the title, is about my self-taught tech-skills. I’m discussing learning html, graphic design/editing software and podcast editing and how they have helped in my professional life. I’ve learned and refined other skills including copy editing (always a work in progress), mobile design programs and time management to name a few, but I wanted to focus on the bigger skills for this piece.

2015 08-26 HTML SampleLet’s start with the first I learned: html. Sure, most platforms have WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface, but having the ability to go in and fix formatting issues from font size and space to photo alignment is critical. When you add in the ability to build more complex things like lists and tables this has become an invaluable skill in my professional life. I am able to build, design and edit webpages and solve most formatting problems on my own. I can even use this to find out how other webpages are built (by viewing the source code) which allows me to continually expand my html knowledge!

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Personal Project, Professional Development

Will Blogging and Social Media Cost Me a Future Job?

Geoff W

2015 08-19 Google Geoff WhaleyHave you ever googled yourself? There are plenty of articles out there saying you should never do it, or you should do it all the time, but have you done it? You know future employers are going to, so why wouldn’t you?

Wondering what it would be like for a co-worker or future employer to search for me I did a quick search and the screen grab is to the right. It’s mostly me; 75% of it is links directly to something I’ve put online.

Recently, I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on my online presence: my blog (geoffwhaley.com), Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and LinkedIn. I have a pretty robust online presence and I made a conscious decision when I started my blog over five years ago to keep that presence public.

I don’t do or write about anything illegal; I don’t do or write about anything too controversial; and I definitely draw a line between my professional time and my personal time. And yet, here I am wondering if all of this openness will hinder future career prospects.

My answer: No. 

Why? I won’t allow it.

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